The Horizon
by harmysings
Summary: A woman and her daughter find their lives torn apart and are sought because of a vicious murder. Will the CSI team find them and save them from the Watcher?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N As I was already into the first several chapters before I put story here, the first "chapter" is actually Chapters 1-5**

**The Horizon**

**Chapter1**

As the morning sun rose above the horizon, Stella Fay sat on the bench watching the waves wash upon the beach in front of her. To say that she actually saw what was before her would really be pressing the mark because her mind's eye was really focused upon the dilemma she was facing.

Stella was a bright lady in her early 40's who had come from the mid-west in search of a better life. She had always been a hard worker and had devoted herself to those things that all too many saw as trivialities. She had been wife and mother and had given her all to those she cherished. As she neared the twentieth year of her marriage, she had known for a long time that she was the only one really trying in the mix. Feeling that she would be a failure somehow if her marriage wasn't a success, she had toiled on basically alone to make things work.

Stella's husband Ray's latest scheme to make millions had brought them to Miami. She knew he was making a serious mistake but instead of arguing with him [as if he would have listened] she had dutifully followed along, doing her best to make their daughter's life better, if not her own.

They had been in Miami about a week staying in a motel that had made Stella very nervous. Her senses had told her that Ray was up to no good but she had tried as usual to believe the best of him. Ray's temper had become worse and worse as the days had gone on and the drinking habit had only increased with each passing day. On the sixth day after making calls and the expected sales falling through, he had snapped.

When their daughter Amber had giggled at a cartoon she was watching on her little DVD player, he had almost slapped her. Stella had seen him raise his arm and had stepped in-between taking the blow across her face. Fortunately Amber hadn't noticed as her back had been turned and her headsets had blocked the quiet argument that had followed. With a voice barely above a whisper, Stella told Ray that they were through and that she was taking the car and Amber. He had started to argue but at seeing her white hot anger he snapped "OK, but don't come crying back to me when you find out you have no-place else to go." At her asking what he meant, he had laughed with a cold voice. I sold everything we had back home. There's nothing to go back to."

In those moments any love that she had for that man had withered and died. Gone were any misgivings of saving the marriage. She knew that if he had ever had any love for either of them that he had lost it in his drunkenness and greed.

It had taken her no more than fifteen minutes to pack their meager belongings and load them into the car. She had tried not to show the real reasons for their packing to their daughter. She just had no idea how to explain without telling the Amber what a loser that her dad was. Once they left the motel Stella drove to the nearest bank and withdrew four of the last $500 dollars in the account. She knew that she would have to stretch that to keep the two of them going. Part of her mind screamed that she should have taken the whole 500 dollars from the bank, but she just couldn't bring herself to do that. Next she drove to a burger joint. She nibbled on a salad while Amber happily ate a burger and chattered.

Once they finished supper, they had driven around looking for a different place to stay. Stella had been shocked to see the prices and so they had driven for hours. Before long, Amber had curled up in the back seat with her favorite blanket and pillow and was fast asleep.

Stella ended up parked on the beach and had spent the night crying then wracking her mind on what to do next. As the sun rose above the horizon, Stella had no idea that as bleak as she had envisioned their situation, it would only seem worse before the day was done.

**Chapter 2**

Frank Tripp had begun the morning a bit earlier than usual. His normal six A.M. shift had been bumped up to five due to an unusual call. He had known Stan Burch many years. To say that they were friends would have been laughable. It was more of a case that Stan had learned to respect Frank and had called upon him whenever he had run into trouble, which had been more often than Frank had really cared for. Stan had been the manager of a seedy little motel on the south side of Miami for many years and had run across the shadier side of the cities inhabitants. Frank had to give it to the man, even though he was surrounded by those who had for a large part given up on their lives; Stan tried to do the best he could.

It had been the call from Stan this morning that had roused Frank earlier than usual and it was beginning to look like it was going to be one of those crazy days as if the whole town was in a pressure cooker and the heat was beginning to make everyone melt down. Frank arrived at the motel and stopped to talk with Stan who was visibly upset.

Stan told of taking the trash out before he began his shift at 5. When he was at the back of the motel by the dumpsters he noticed that the curtains were partially torn down in room 132. The door was ajar as he knocked and as it swung open he saw that the room had not only been ripped to shreds but that there was a lot of blood on the walls. Stan was violently ill and then he quickly dialed for the only cop he had ever trusted. As much as he wanted to turn from this place and leave he knew his responsibility was to keep others out until the cops could come.

Frank knew that the scene must be graphic to have made this man before him so ill. Although Stan tried to be a good man, Frank knew that he had seen his share of trouble and brushes with the law in his earlier years. Frank made the calls to the ME and the CSI team. Yes, he thought to himself, this is going to be a very long day.

**Chapter 3**

After Frank's call, Horatio surveyed the scene in the motel room. The kinds of sick, abhorrent thoughts that drove people to commit such heinous and violent acts never ceased to amaze Horatio. There had been one body in the room and there were definitely signs of struggle. In fact, there were few things in the room that were intact. Even the mattress and box springs had been torn to shreds and the human remains had fared no less violence. It was very clear that whoever had done this had a tremendous amount of repressed rage, pent up over years which had finally exploded in this insane, senseless destruction.

It had taken the better part of the hour that they had been there just to sort through the debris enough to find a wallet. Upon opening the wallet it proved to be that of the victim, a Ray Fay. There was little inside the wallet other than his ID and a picture of him along with a woman and child. Horatio wondered what had happened to the others in that picture.

-----

Stella walked to the door of her car. She looked through the window at the still sleeping form of her daughter. Fear gripped her heart at the thought of what she would say when Amber asked about her father. A sob escaped her and she fought to hold it back. She had spent most of the night in tears and she had a throbbing headache from it. She glimpsed herself in the rearview mirror as she slipped into the driver's seat once again. She was shocked at the dark circles under her eyes and the redness of her face. She turned her face and saw the ugly bruise and split lip from the blow that Ray had given her. How, she wondered had she ever been so stupid as to think that man had ever loved her. If he had hit Amber that hard… she shuddered at the thought.

She took a sip of what remained of her soda from the night before, the tears of the night having made her mouth dry. She started the car and decided to go to a grocery store and get some food for them to live off of. As she drove the sleepy side streets looking for their provisions little did she realize that they were now being sought in connection to a murder case.

-----

Frank questioned Stan the motel mgr. about the woman and child in the photo from the crime scene. He said that sure, they had been there and had left the motel about 8 pm the night before in the car. He surrendered the check –in form that had the car's license number on it. Nobody had seen or heard from the room after that. He hadn't seen anyone unusual in the area through the night although he had been away from the desk at about midnight when there had been a disturbance in one of the other rooms. Frank left the interview thinking that something just didn't add up right. He didn't realize that he was being watched the whole time.

**Chapter 4**

It took the CSI team until late in the day just to gather the evidence and sort through the rubble that had been a motel room. After Alexx's initial exam of the body she had set the TOD at about 12am. After questioning all the motel guests and staff they had come up short on any clues as to who had done this. As the woman and child were the last to be seen leaving the room it was obvious that they had to be questioned in connection to the crime. Frank had put a bolo out for them and there had been officers looking for them the whole day with no success.

After getting some groceries and some camping supplies Stella and Amber had headed south toward Homestead. It had taken all of Stella's energy to get them to a small RV park and get them settled in for the day. Amber had taken to the idea of camping and had behaved really well not even missing her father.

Stella was thankful for her daughter. It seemed that sometimes Amber was far wiser than her tender age of ten. Stella watched as Amber arranged her sleeping bag for the night. Although others had always looked at the child as stupid or weird, it had always been Stella who had stood up to everyone, even the doctors when they said that Amber would never walk or talk but only be a vegetable. True, Amber's development was behind those of her age, seeming to be much younger than her peers. Yet sometimes those few who truly looked deep inside her saw glimpses of great intelligence if not genius. Even now, anger coursed through Stella's body that society had labels and pigeon holes for kids like this.

Stella smiled as her daughter began to count out hotdogs that they were going to fix for supper. She roused herself to help with the cooking and began to teach her again about fires and safety. Repetition was often the key to helping her to remember things.

They finished supper and sat beside a small campfire together, simply enjoying each other's company and the peace they had not felt for some time. Stella leaned back and closed her eyes, relaxing before the fire. Suddenly she felt Amber's lips pressed gently against the bruised side of her face. "Momma's got a booboo" she softly said. "Momma is my hero, thank you momma" she whispered into Stella's ear. It took every ounce of strength that Stella could muster not to sob out loud at that moment. All she could do was hug her daughter tight and be thankful they were away from the source of pain. Little did she realize that their lives were perched on the edge of even more pain and change.

Horatio stood before the windows in his office staring into the ever darkening sky over Miami. In his mind's eye he saw again the faces in the photograph from the crime scene. How, he wondered did those innocent faces fit into the grizzly scene that he had witnessed this morning? He turned again to his desk and opened the folder containing the information on the Fay family. It had taken little time to find out that Ray had been in debt up to his eyes and had sold everything in Ohio before coming to Florida the week before. The team had contacted the Montgomery county sheriff's department and had found out that Ray had a list of crimes throughout his life. It was obvious that he had been on a slippery slope and had just continued his crimes getting worse each time. The information on the woman and child had been clean. The woman named Stella had had an impeachable past. She was well liked and the officer had even gone so far as to say that folks felt sorry for her because she had never seen the side of Ray that others knew too well. The child was a special needs girl and she was loved by all that knew her. When the sheriff found out that the woman and child were being sought because of Ray's murder he replied that it had only been a matter of time before Ray's luck had run out. He was just hoping that the woman and child had been spared from the violence that Ray had been stirring up for years. Horatio looked again at the picture and hoped that they were indeed going to be spared from more pain. Something in the eyes that looked back from that photo spoke of a loneliness that Horatio knew all too well. He closed the folder and rose to go home for the night. He hoped that the woman and child were found soon and that they were indeed innocent, but then again if they were it meant that they could be in serious danger. For out there somewhere was someone with extremely violent tendencies.

**Chapter 5**

The watcher had sat in their secluded place, hidden from view and had kept their vigil during the police and CSI investigation and search of the motel room. It was amusing to watch them scurry like little ants after their nest had been disturbed. The tall Texan had been the first to arrive after the idiot motel manager had stumbled upon the scene. His reaction to the room had been all but comical but the Texan; although he was not pleased by the scene he had remained calm. The watcher was intrigued by that calm and longed to provoke him. There had been another that intrigued the watcher as well, one with red hair and a confident air. The watcher sensed an anger emanating from the red one. It would be interesting to see if Red and Tex could put the pieces together and even come close to finding a trail.

Stuart Davies, a Sheriff's Deputy in Montgomery County Ohio had run across something that changed his life. In his rounds he had run across an abandoned car on a drive at the back of the Englewood Reserve, a park near a town just North of Dayton. There are often cars that someone leaves while they run a trail or walk through the park but this car had just felt all wrong. Stu was hard pressed to say why he had felt so uneasy when he saw the car. He had stopped and with all his senses screaming he had approached it with gun drawn. He saw a young man slumped down on the passenger floorboard of the car. It was obvious that he had been there for many days. Why it had gone unseen for as long as the man had obviously been dead puzzled Stu. Stu had recently gone through a short crime scene training course and was glad that he had done so. Stu stepped back on his own footprints and called the scene in. While he waited he began taking pictures of evidence that he spotted on the ground.

Later when the coroner examined the body, there was a small bag clutched in the palm of the right hand. Upon investigation it was later found that the bag contained several pills and a slip of paper. The pills, when tested were a new form of PCP with some additives that they had not been able to pinpoint. The small slip of paper had a phone number, a date, [which had been 10 days before] and the following words. Ray Fay, Englewood Park.

Stu dialed the phone number and after the Third ring heard a male voice on the other end. After an awkward conversation for both sides for several seconds, the man on the other end surprised Stu by saying," I can tell you are in the Montgomery County Sheriff's office. May I ask your name?"

At Stu's response the Voice on the other end of the line said, "I'm CSI Eric Delco in Miami Florida."

After a moment's surprise, Stu shared that he was working on as murder case involving Ray Fay and that he had suspected this to be his number. Eric confirmed that the phone had indeed been found in Ray Fay's room and that he was deceased. Eric then told Stu that he would return the call after he spoke to his department head.

It was Horatio that made the follow-up call to Stu later that day. Both officers shared the information that they had. The evidence showed that Ray had met the young man in the park. The young man named Danny Valentine who was a local college student had been a science major and quiet kid. When his roommate had been questioned he had tried to run. When they caught him he had been carrying a bag with pills identical to those in the bag found at the scene. When his room had been searched, they found several other bags. All in all there had been over 5000 pills seized in the roommate's arrest. When he had been questioned he admitted that Danny had been messing with a PCP recipe and had made the pills. He had taken 3 bags of 5000 pills each when he had gone to meet someone in the park over a week before. He hadn't seen him since. When he hadn't returned, he had taken the last bag and had been going to try and sell it. That was when the officers had come to the house.

Horatio then shared all about the scene that they had discovered that morning and how Ray had been found. When he finished the call, Horatio felt that somewhere in the city was a new kind of drug. Suddenly he felt he knew why the crime scene had been so torn apart. Someone was looking for those drugs.

As the day progressed and the police and CSI's left the watcher was sure they had not found clues to find their identity. They smiled knowing that their handiwork had intimidated and baffled the ones known as Miami's Finest. A flash of anger passed across the face of the watcher as they remembered the dolt from the Midwest. He had thought he was so smart; trying to peddle something that he had no idea of the power of. The watcher felt again the anger bubbling up within, where had that idiot hidden the stuff? It was obvious that it hadn't been in the room. It was obvious that the manager hadn't found anything either. That every word had been able to be heard had obviously not been on any of the officer's minds. The watcher knew that they had not found what he desired. So the question remained… where was the stuff? The watcher knew that the longer that there was time to wait, the more the anger would grow. A smile crossed the watcher's face as they thought; if the officers thought they had seen something now, how much more would they be amazed if the anger grew. No, Miami had seen nothing yet!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 6**

Stella and Amber woke the next morning and had enjoyed a pretty peaceful day. An older gentleman a few campsites down had taken a shine to the young girl and had offered to let her use a spare fishing pole. They had spent a couple hours while Amber had played at fishing. Feeding the fish would be more accurate, Stella had thought with a smile. After their activity they stopped at the little camp store for a soda on the way back to their site. The older man was there asking Amber about fishing and so Stella stepped on into the store to buy their drinks and some ice for the cooler. Stella caught a headline on a newspaper out of the corner of her eye and nearly fainted. "Ohio Man Slain in Motel, Family missing." It read. A picture of ray looked out at her and she began to shake. If not for the kindly lady behind the counter Stella would likely have dropped the bottles of soda. Before she knew it, the lady had come around the counter and had produced a chair and Stella was sitting in it. Darkness faded in and out as Stella tried to digest the idea that Ray was dead.

-----

Frank got a call from a campground just outside of Homestead. It took him a few minutes to get what the woman was talking about. It was an older lady and she was very excited and she was going on about the "hi 'oh man". He thought she was talking about her husband being high. It took a few minutes for the idea to cross him that she was talking about the man from Ohio and that he needed to follow up on this one himself. He made a quick call to Horatio and in a matter of minutes he was on his way to meet with him as they traveled south to investigate.

-----

The watcher had waited until all the police had left the motel. Once it was dark, they left their place of concealment and made their way to the room just to the left of where the crime scene had been. After the body had been discovered, all those that had been staying on this side of the building had either checked out or had asked to be moved to another room. The watcher smiled, that was all the better, for nobody was watching the back of the building now. The watcher went in and began to search again for the missing bags.

After searching the 2 rooms on each side of the original crime scene as well as the air ducts leading to all of them, the watcher finally decided that the bags had to be someplace else. The anger again boiled up and they had to rein it in… for now. As the dawn began to peek over the horizon, the watcher left the motel before they were discovered.

-----

Frank and Horatio drove into the sleepy little campground and pulled up to the tiny general store. There were two old men sitting on the porch in rockers and Frank swore he felt like he'd stepped up to a country store of many years gone by. A slender little lady with her silver hair pulled up into a bun hurried out onto the porch. Her beautiful timeworn face was creased in worry as she stepped down off the porch to greet the two men.

"I'm so glad you both could come", she said patting the hand of the tall Texan she had come across first. "That poor 'lil lady 'bout near fell down when she saw that paper, she said, shaking her head. "That hi 'oh man was her husband. He hauled off and hit her and she left him. I swear I told Earl, that's my husband, I said someone had mistreated this poor girl; Split lip and the bruising that she has." The little lady pulled Frank along as she excitedly chattered. Frank, used to having the first and last say in investigation couldn't even get a word in edgewise and Horatio couldn't help but smile at the confused look on his friend's face.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 7

Sunny Day was a young woman who had come to Miami in search of fame. Of course her real name wasn't Sunny, her hair and eye colors and much about her had also been changed from the sweet country girl that she had been before coming to this place. Two days before she had met someone who she thought would be a bit of fun. They had met at the closest mini mart when he was buying beer. His name was Ray and he had come and partied in her room after his boring wife and brat had fallen asleep, not that she had met them, that was how he had referred to them.

Ray had supplied the alcohol and several pills like Sunny had never seen before. He called them rainbow and said he was gonna be rich soon when Miami got a taste of those little pills. He had turned her onto one and it had given her the best buzz of her life. They had partied all night and they had not only been high but the sensual feelings it had evoked had led to quite a marathon. Rather than being tired they had gone out together and walked several blocks to a pub she knew. Before it was all said and done they had robbed the place and the bartender had taken quite a beating during the aggressive stage that the pills had caused.

Sunny had soared higher, felt more and felt stronger than she ever had before in her life. Yes, although she barely remembered the events of the night before, she thought,those pills were going to be a big hit. She had partied again with Ray the night he had been killed. He had called her after the wife and kid had left and they had gotten high again, but this time they hadn't taken the pills but just smoked a roach that she had brought with her. At about 11 PM Sunny decided to go to the local mini mart and get some ice cream to cure her munchies. Ray had decided to stay behind and drink some more but had asked Sunny to get him another bottle. The trip to the store had taken longer than she had intended and as she returned to the motel at about midnight she ran into her ex who had pulled her into his room and smacked her around. It had been this room, at the other end of the motel, that the manager had been called to when he left his desk at midnight.

When the manager had come to the room, Sunny had gratefully made her escape when he ordered them to quiet down. She had gone back to her room to shower and change. She had stopped long enough to eat her half melted ice cream before her shower and it had been close to 1 AM before she had left her room to go back to continue the party with Ray.

Sunny had been anticipating her return to play with Ray but as she rounded the corner of the building she caught sight of Ray's room. The blind was partially torn down and the door was ajar. As if unable to control herself, Sunny walked to the door. What she saw in the garish glow of the overturned light shocked what was left of any buzz that Sunny had left from the smoke and the booze. As she stumbled backwards unconsciously brushing the light switch as she turned to run. Sunny made it to the edge of the next lot before she slowed down. She was violently ill several times and then had to sit and recover before her mind began to clear a bit. Sunny had gone back to her own motel room and packed her things. By 3 AM Sunny had managed to get herself to a safe house across town that she knew of.

The older lady that ran the safe house was a bit senile and Sunny had often stayed there many times before. She had learned that if she wiggled the patio door just right that she could slip into the house in the middle of the night any time and help herself to a meal. It had happened more than once that she had slipped into or out of a room there in the middle of the night. If she hadn't checked in the night before the old lady just shook her head and commented on her memory, as if she had simply forgotten that the girl had been there the night before.

Sunny had seen the uglier parts of Miami and she was really terrified as she watched the news reporter talking of the horrific murder at the motel. She was in scared that the cops would come looking for her but even more she feared whoever had done this would come find her. Sunny stood in the little bathroom of the safe house and looked at the small zipper bag in her hand. There inside were seven little pink pills that Ray had given her. Each pill, the size of mini M&M's had a candy coating on them making them look a lot like the candies. On each little candy shell was the imprint of a colored rainbow. Sunny somehow knew that those little pills were the reason that Ray had been killed and why her life was now in great danger. For the first time in her life, Sunny thought about calling the cops.


End file.
